witchbottles
Forum Guru
thanks to changing school system educations where US History takes a back seat to art and drama classes (and budget constraints cut even those 2 from the classes far too often); we now have a pair of generations walking around, (and more to come), with no concept of the totality of WW2. You'd be surprised how many people I run into from Gen X'rs on to todays schoolchildren in 9-12 grade, who have a firm belief if they recall anything about the PTO in WW2, it was ALL about the Marines. They don't even recognize the Navy was there, either. I typically softly remind them about something called "Pearl Harbor" after they say there was no Navy fighting in WW2 - they typically respond " oh, well, there is , that...."(If they even know what Pearl Harbor means to US History).I met a PTO US Army vet once who was slightly indignant that people think only the Marines fought in the Pacific. My own father-in-law was in the Army and in the PTO but wouldn’t talk about his experiences. He only said once that you knew where the Japanese were at because they smelled like the fish they were eating. I thought an SSR for this might cut down on PTO bug hunts!
It's a system designed to streamline everyone into science, technology, engineering and math, the rest falls out the window - and we're doing it to ourselves is the sad part.
I know and knew a lot of Army PTO veterans in my time, like all ww2 vets, we who served from 1980 on, (and many before us), hold them in high regard for the sacrifices we know they gave and endured, regardless of their branch of service.